I understand that this is a very subjective issue. Tell me, please, which of the the southern cities in Finland can be visited in autumn? My goal is painting and tourist places with hustle and bustle is not interesting to me. I was in Helsinki, Porvoo, Joutsa, Vantaa. I would like to know one more small Finnish town. Unfortunately, I have a little time for my trip and the places should be near the border of Russia or in southern Finland.

Question

omma · Answer

I'd recommend Lappeenranta. It has a pretty old fortress there and, like the next two cities, it is situated by the Lake Saimaa. There you can also see the effect on Finnish border cities after Russian tourists ceased coming:
http://www.visitlappeenranta.fi/en/

Then there's also Punkaharju with REALLY nice scenery. The city itself isn't that big but it's right next to Savonlinna which is nice and has the Olavinlinna Castle:
http://www.visitpunkaharju.fi/en/natural-historical-attractions?item=28#Harjualue
http://visitsavonlinna.fi/en/

BONUS:

If you want to see some history and nature I'd recommend visiting the Haukkavuori Hill that has several of Finnish-Russian borders carved into the stone (and is actually located in my hometown ^_^ ) and from where you can also see all the way to Russia:
http://www3.lappeenranta.fi/museot/museo/english/kohteet16-17.html

And while you're there you could also visit Parikkala to see a traditional Finnish village and especially the Parikkala sculpture park:
http://www.patsaspuisto.net/parikkala-sculpture-park/
http://www.visitparikkala.com/

All in all I would probably recommend the Punkaharju + Savonlinna combination. :)

siirimyyry · Answer

Savitaipale is also nice, it's a little town near Lappeenranta, so it's not too far from the Russian border.

Necroblas · Answer

I must admit that I usually go to the north of Finland when I want to see scenic and tranquil places and I don't have much experience with traveling in Southern Finland aside from Helsinki and Turku. But I've been to Kotka and it has at least a couple of beautiful parks (http://www.discoveringfinland.com/ru/product/sapokan-vesipuisto/1055/) and a Russian emperor's fishing "hut" (http://www.langinkoskimuseo.com/ru/), which I guess could be interesting to painters. 

Maybe somebody else knows Southern Finland better than me.